Cincinnati's Homicide Rate Spiked Last Year

Homicides in Cincinnati were up nearly 15 percent last year compared to 2016.

But police officials told city council's Law and Public Safety Committee Monday that the increase was not nearly as large as some nearby cities.

The number of homicides jumped from 62 to 71, according to Assistant Police Chiefs Paul Neudigate and Mike John. John showed the committee a slide with photos of all 71 homicide victims to make a point that they were not just numbers.

"We talk numbers a lot but we shouldn't forget the families impacted – victims' families, and suspects' families too, because their families are broken when somebody is convicted of one of these offenses and lost to the justice system,'' John said.

John says that 39 of the 71 homicide investigations have been closed. Cincinnati did not see as large a spike as Indianapolis or Columbus. St. Louis and Nashville had 20-year highs in homicides.

Overall, the numbers of shootings in Cincinnati decreased by about 4 percent in 2017 over the previous year.

Related Content

Columbus saw its deadliest year yet in 2017, with 143 homicides, a record that was last broken in the midst of the cocaine epidemic a quarter-century ago.

Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs says it's not just the opioid epidemic that's to blame for the rising number of deaths – it's also that the number of of police is far short of where it should be. The numbers back her up: Columbus lags behind comparable cities in the size of its police force, and the department is struggling as a result.